A hacker allegedly used LinkedIn's API to extract 700 million people's names, addresses, email addresses, phone numbers, and other personal information such as "inferred salary," reports PrivacySharks. They are offering to sell it and have made a sample of 1 million records available for inspection.
Restore Privacy wrote about the possible impact of the data leak:
While this latest LinkedIn leak did not contain any financial records or login credentials, there are still serious consequences. This is because it puts 700+ million people at risk of:
– identity theft
– phishing attempts
– social engineering attacks
– hacked accounts
Cybercriminals can use the information found in the leaked files with other data in order to create full detailed profiles of their potential victims. Additionally, bad actors can use the available data, particularly usernames, emails, and personal information, to gain access to other accounts.
Above all else, this information exposes LinkedIn users to a higher risk of exploitation by bad actors.
And once your private data is leaked, there's no getting it back.
In other words, if you are on this list, you should probably change your name, get a new phone number, and move to protect yourself from identity theft, doxxing, harassment, and stalking.
Equifax did a good job of not having to compensate anyone for its egregious failure to safeguard people's privacy in 2017 when hackers got the personal information of 147 million people from its computers. Will Microsoft (which owns LinkedIn) be able to do the same when it settles its own class action lawsuit stemming from this leak?
